Having surgeons participate in the early planning phase of the facili-
ty was critical because they know what works and what doesn't in
other facilities in which they operate. They understand the signifi-
cance of things like which way a door opens and where the "hand
wave" automatic door-opening pad should be positioned much better
than people do.
At the beginning of 2018, our team started meeting on a regular
basis. We knew we wanted two ORs, six pre-op bays, six PACU bays,
six stepdown recovery bays and an ample storage area. During the
design phase, we decided to cut back to three stepdown bays to
ensure there was plenty of storage space in the perioperative area.
Knowing a large percentage of our patients would be children also
factored heavily in some of our design decisions. We created a kid-
friendly space for children to wait with their parents before going into
the OR. We also created space for a slushie machine in PACU for the
post-tonsil and adenoidectomy kids.
• Capital purchases. The expertise of MEP engineers was of para-
mount importance for ensuring the electrical design is sufficient to
meet the facility's current and future power demands. This meant we
had to identify very early on the makes and models of all the large
equipment — OR lights, microscopes, image guidance platforms,
anesthesia machines and sterilizers — we intended to purchase.
We invested in two video towers for endoscopic sinus surgery and
one image guidance/navigation system. The image guidance equip-
ment is on a rolling cart, so it can be moved between ORs.
Surgical microscopes are critical for ENT procedures and our doc-
tors knew exactly which type they wanted. We bought one new micro-
scope and one refurbished unit from a local vendor. One of our doc-
tors is a neurotologist who performs a lot of tympanoplasties and
mastoidectomies. We were able to purchase a different head for one
5 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0